It Was The Night Before Christmas: A Visit from St. Nicholas

The Night Before Christmas was originally a 1968 Animated Christmas Television Special, with background music provided by the Norman Luboff Choir. It was shown regularly for about 10 years as a holiday special, but has since disappeared from television. The classic holiday animated short film tells the heartwarming true story of how Clement C. Moore came to write the Christmas poem beloved by generations of children, and includes a joyous retelling of the charming A Visit from St. Nicholas.

In the film, Clement Moore goes on a short trip just before Christmas to give a series of lectures at a university, and he promises to get his daughter Charity a storybook about Santa Claus for Christmas while he is away. Charity develops pneumonia while he’s gone, and the doctor says she might not survive. When Clement arrives back home, he’s distraught to see his beloved daughter near death. Making things even worse, he hadn’t found any books about Santa Claus when he went shopping, and even through her fever she’s asking for one. Feeling that he had broken his promise, he decides to write a story of his own and read it to her; it is the story which became A Visit from St. Nicholas.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: Even Miracles Need a Hand!

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 animated short film, originally a television Christmas special based on Clement Moore’s famous 1823 poem that opens with this line. For some unexplained reason, all the letters sent to Santa Claus are being returned to the children of Junctionville. It seems that some disenchanted resident of the small town has angered Santa, calling Christmas nothing but “a fraudulent myth!” The skeptical resident turns out to be little mouse Albert, who has to be brought to his senses. The way in which Albert is persuaded to change his tune paves the way for Santa’s jolly return to Junctionville and the joyous finale of this charming animated fable.

A Krampus Carol: The Smouldering Dark Recesses of Yuletide Revelry

A Krampus Carol is a wickedly humorous three-minute stop-motion animated short film by Anthony Bourdain, a film that smoulders in the dark recesses of holiday revelry. You know all about Santa: the traditional winter gift-bringer with cheeks like a rose and a nose like a cherry. Now meet the Krampus, an evil, boozy goat-horned menace with a monstrous tongue, who whips children into shape all around Europe. Krampus is Santa Claus’ whip-toting Christmas sidekick. According to Austrian legend, Krampus joins Santa, tending to the children on Santa’s naughty list. No lumps of coal here, though. Instead, Krampus licks and whips children into shape with switches and rusty chains, before dragging them in baskets to a fiery place below.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1944) is the original classic cartoon version of this endearing Christmas tale, which was created by Max Fleischer two decades before Rudolph came to the small screen. Johnny Marks’ infectious song leads into the well-known story of Santa’s winter weather troubles and how the bullied little deer saved the night. The other reindeer in Christmastown don’t make Rudolph feel very welcome, constantly making fun of his shiny red nose. But when terrible weather threatens to keep Santa Claus from making his annual toy-giving rounds, Rudolph is added to the team precisely for that bright nose, which guides Santa’s sleigh through the skies like a beacon in the night.

Five Shots of Scrooge’s Anti-Christmas Bah, Humbug!

This is a group of five nine-second animated short films on the topic of Christmas that was created by Treat Studios, a London-based collective of young animators. The general theme of the animated shorts was to surprise people with something really Anti-Christmas, and to transform something boring into something amazing. The films are really fun to watch and will surely provide you with much merriment!

Nicholas Was: The Darker Side of Christmas

Nicholas was,Older than sin, And his beard could grow no whiter,He wanted to die.

Nicholas Was is a darkly humorous animated short film, the 2010 Christmas Card created by the Beijing studio, 39 Degrees North. The animated short is an adaptation of a wonderful poem by the fantastic Neil Gaiman. The film begins by taking a rather unconventional route, and after that there’s simply no turning back. The pull of the dark side becomes just too strong, resulting in an arduous and thankless trip for St. Nicholas that is way beyond awesome.